Living on the border between Northern Ireland and Eire comes with some advantages, such as the ability to buy lottery tickets for both the UK Lotto and the Irish Lotto. As the North is part of Britain the UK Lotto plays there, but over the border and the tickets switch to the Irish Lotto.

On January 13th one such Irish Lotto ticket was purchased just South of the border, in a store that sees a lot of passing trade from customers both sides of the border. This ticket matched all six numbers in the Irish Lotto draw, netting the winner €4,400,000. It’s not known yet which side of the border the ticket was sold, as despite more than a week passing since the draw, no one has come forward to claim.

Now Irish Lotto officials are appealing to players both sides of the border to check old lottery tickets as one is worth many million euros. The ticket was sold in Daly’s Service Station in Lifford, just a few hundred metres over the River Foyle border. Do you buy lottery tickets at this services? If so it may be time to check and see if you’re holding a winner.

If the winner is North of the border it may be that they are concerned about presenting the ticket, but Irish Lotto officials say there is no need to worry. All the winner needs is the winning ticket and they can claim the €4,400,000 jackpot no matter where they call home.

Since the UK National Lottery changed its rules making it much harder to win, border sales for the Irish Lotto have increased, and with such favourable odds, it’s hardly surprising.